HUD Lean 232Approval Eases

The Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) is making progress in its pledge to speed up approval
and underwriting for HUD Lean 232
financing, a significant lending source
during the economic downturn. The
number of HUD 232 applications in
the queue dropped from 260 in mid-November to 124 ( 41 Section 232 and
83 Section 223) on February 6.

Senior living providers and lenders,
in a tight lending environment, have
turned to the Section 232 program
as one of only a few available sources
for funding rehabilitation and new
construction, and its affiliated Section
223 program for refinancing existing
properties, says Paul Williams, ALFA’s
senior director of government relations. ALFA representatives have met
with HUD several times to discuss ways
to help facilitate relief for the months-long back-up in applications.

HUD projects to eliminate the
queue by sometime in mid-2012,
according to an email HUD’s Office of
Healthcare programs sent to lenders in
mid-January.

On February 3, HUD also an-nounced the allocation of $31.5 millionto help nonprofit organizations in fivestates to provide housing and sup-portive services assistance to low-income seniors through the Section202 Supportive Housing for the Elderlyprogram. The funds are in additionto $545 million in Section 202grants awarded to 97 granteesin 31 states and Puerto Rico inNovember 2011.

Indian senior living executives joined together to found India’s first senior living
trade association at the Retirement Living World India Trade Show in New Delhi last

December. The newly formed group, named the Association Senior Living India (ASLI),
has formed a partnership with ALFA and to cement the relationship, Steven Vick, past
ALFA chair and now board member, attended the conference and will serve on ASLI’s
board.

ALFA will serve as a mentor to ASLI, providing advice on how to improve quality of
life for India’s seniors and advance excellence among that nation’s senior living providers. “ALFA has 25 years of history and experience, and will be able to assist ASLI with
some of the rough spots it will naturally face, as well as give leverage to the experience
[ALFA] has had serving its constituencies,” says Vick, who is CEO of Dallas, Texas-based
Signature Senior Living.

Independent living, assisted living, and memory care in a community setting are
in their infancy in India, where cultural values dictate that children care for parents in
their homes. However, India’s population age 65 and above is predicted to double to
177 million within just eight years and to grow to 240 million by 2050. At the same
time, many of their adult children are moving away from the villages of their birth
to urban centers and even abroad, suggesting that the need for community-based
alternatives will become acute in upcoming years, Vick suggests.

“In Dallas alone, there are 30,000 Indians, and all of their parents aren’t going tomove to Dallas to live with them,” he says. “That’s creating a tremendous opportunityfor senior living entrepreneurs in India, and perhaps for entrepreneurs in the UnitedStates, too.”Indian Senior Living Providers LaunchAssociation, Partner with ALFA